DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 



THE FISHERY INDUSTRIES DP 



REPORT PREPARED FOR 

THE COMMISSION OF THE .'UNITED STATES'' OF AMERICA; 

TO THE BRAZIL CENTENNIAt EXPOSITION 




For Distribution at the Brazil Centennial Exposition 
1922-1923 



WASHINGTON 
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1922 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/fisheryindustrieOOunit 



DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 



THE FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF THE 
UNITED STATES 



V 



Supplementing Exhibit 

of the 

UNITED STATES BUREAU OF FISHERIES 

at the 

BRAZIL CENTENNIAL EXPOSITION 

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 

1922-1923 



By <■ 

LEWIS RADCLIFFE 

Assistant in Charge, Division of Fishery Industries 
United States Bureau of Fisheries 



LIBRARY OF COH©RE88 

NOViUMS 



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THE FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF THE 
UNITED STATES. 



Our sister Republic, the United States of Brazil, has an abundant 
supply of edible fish in her coastal and interior waters and realizes the 
importance of more fully developing this important food resource for 
the use of her people. Brazilians may therefore be interested in a brief 
review of the character and importance of the fisheries of the United 
States of America as a source of food and products valued in the arts 
and industries, and in the relationship of the United States Bureau of 
Fisheries to this industry. Her students may be interested in the educa- 
tional opportunities afforded by our fishery colleges and her business 
men in the possibilities of obtaining supplies, from fish nets to fishery 
products, readily procurable in the United States of America. 

At the very beginning of our history the fisheries were of the greatest 
importance, some of the early settlements, at times, being wholly de- 
pendent for continued existence upon fish as the only available food 
supply. The fisheries have continued to hold high rank in our industrial 
growth, as an important source of food and for the training of seamen 
for war or peace time pursuits. At present there are about 200,000 
persons actively engaged in the fisheries of the United States and Alaska, 
using approximately 6,500 vessels of 5 tons net or over, and 75,000 
small boats for the capture and transporting of fishery products, employ- 
ing nets and other fishing apparatus with a value aggregating $15,000,000. 
The capital invested approximates $170,000,000, and the annual yield of 
fishery products amounts to approximately 2,500,000,000 pounds, with 
a value of $85,000,000 to the fishermen, and a much greater value as 
prepared for the market. Of the total catch, about 68 per cent consists 
of marine products, 20 per cent of anadromous species, and 12 per cent 
of fresh-water forms. The Atlantic seaboard supplies about 64 per cent 
of the catch, the Pacific coast States, Alaska, and the interior United 
States waters about 12 per cent each. 

FISHING GROUNDS. 

The most important fishing areas are the relatively shoal water banks 
lying off the eastern coast of North America from Newfoundland to 
Massachusetts. These banks are about 70,000 square miles in area, and 

11174—22 3 



\ THE FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 

support highly important fisheries for cod, haddock, halibut, pollock, 
hake and other fishes. Similarly, on the west coast, there are important 
fishing banks from Oregon to Alaska inclusive, which maintain important 
fisheries for halibut, cod, sablefish, and other species. On the remaining 
coastal area, fishing banks are of lesser importance. There are, however, 
important coastal and river fisheries for shellfish, oysters, clams, lobster, 
crabs, etc. ; surface schooling fishes (mackerel, tunas, and menhaden) ; 
anadromous species (salmon, shad, and river herring) , and the like. Of 
the interior waters, the Great Lakes on the northern boundary line are 
most important, maintaining valuable fisheries for whitefish, ciscoes, 
pike perches, and carp. Approximately one-third of the catch of interior 
waters is taken from these lakes, amounting to about 100,000,000 pounds 
annually. 

FISHING APPARATUS. 

Pound nets, traps, and weirs are the most important form of fishing 
gear, representing 45 per cent of the total investment in fishing apparatus 
in the United States. These are fixed nets, set as a rule in relatively 
shallow water (up to 50 feet) , and are employed in the capture of marine, 
anadromous, and fresh-water fishes. The distinctive feature of such gear, 
is a long leader of webbing or brush which serves to deflect the fishes 
swimming along the shore or ascending the streams into a pocket or trap. 

Gill nets represent 28 per cent of the investment in fishing apparatus. 
These may be stationary or drifted with the tide, the fish becoming 
entangled in the fine webbed meshes. Seines rank third in value, repre- 
senting 12 per cent of the investment, and are used to surround the fish 
by encircling (purse seine) or by bringing the free ends to the shore 
(haul seine). Lobster pots represent about 4 per cent and lines about 
3 per cent of the investment. Many other forms of apparatus, such as 
trammel nets, fyke nets, stop nets, beam trawls, otter trawls, dredges, 
drags, tongs, rakes, grapples, etc., are employed in the fisheries of the 
United States. 

FISHERIES. 

Salmon. — The Pacific salmon fishery may be classed as the most 

important commercial fishery in the United States, the annual catch 

exceeding 300,000,000 pounds. The five important species are as follows : 

King or chinook salmon, flesh deep salmon red or white. 

Blueback, sockeye, or red salmon, flesh red, forms the greatest part 

of the canned salmon of the world. 
Silver or coho salmon, flesh of excellent flavor, but paler in color 

than the red salmon. 
Pink or humpback salmon, flesh pale, hence canned as "pink" 

salmon. 
Chum salmon, flesh light yellow. 




DIPPING SALMON, COPPER RIVER. ALASKA (PRIMITIVE METHOD). 




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CATCH OF 36,000 SALMON IN TRAP (MODERN METHOD). 



THE FISHERY INDUSTRIES OE THE UNITED STATES. 5 

These fish are marketed fresh, frozen, canned, mild-cured, pickled, 
dry-salted, and smoked. The chief method of preservation is by canning. 
The annual pack valued at $30,000,000 or more is in part exported to all 
parts of the world. This fishery also yields annually in excess of 1,500 
tons of fish scrap and meal, and 70,000 gallons of salmon oil. 

Oysters. — The oyster industry ranks next to the salmon fishery in 
importance, although there has been a large decline in recent years- 
The present annual yield amounts to about 150,000,000 pounds, with a 
value. of nearly $15,000,000 to the fishermen. This fishery is of particular 
importance along the Atlantic coast from Rhode Island to Louisiana. 
Oysters are marketed fresh and canned. The annual pack of canned 
oysters exceeds $2,000,000 in value. The shells are ground and used as 
grit for poultry or lime for the soil to counteract acidity. The 1921 
production of these commodities exceeded 259,000 tons. 

Herring. — The principal fisheries for members of the herring family 
are in Maine, California, and Alaska. In Maine the sea herring is fished for 
intensively — chiefly for canning as sardines — the annual catch exceeding 
100,000,000 pounds. The value of the annual pack of sardines has varied 
in recent years from about $4,000,000 to $12,000,000. In California the 
pilchard is abundant and is extensively used for canning as sardines, the 
value of the annual pack varying from $2,250,000 to $3,750,000. In 
Alaska the Alaska herring is chiefly preserved by salting, including pres- 
ervation by the Scotch-cure. These fisheries also yield considerable 
quantities of fish fertilizer, meal, and oil. 

Cod. — The principal fisheries for cod lie off the New England and 
Canadian coasts, chiefly on the fishing banks. Several million pounds 
of cod are also caught on the banks off the coast of Alaska each year, but 
this fishery is capable of much greater development. The annual catch 
of cod exceeds 100,000,000 pounds and is marketed chiefly in the fresh 
state or salted and dried. 

Haddock. — The annual catch of haddock, landed almost entirely at 
New England fishing ports, amounts to about 90,000,000 pounds, most of 
which is marketed fresh, salted, and dried or smoked. 

Halibut.— Formerly there was an important fishery for halibut on the 
fishing grounds off the New England and Canadian coasts. With the 
partial depletion of this fishery, operations were largely transferred to the 
west coast, chiefly to the banks off Alaska, and in recent years the bulk 
of the supply has been obtained from this region. The annual catch of 
both coasts is about 60,000,000 pounds, the bulk of which is marketed 
fresh or frozen. 

Menhaden. — This fish, occurring along the entire Atlantic coast, is used 
almost wholly for the production of fish scrap for fertilizer purposes, fish 
meal for feeding hogs, cattle, and poultry, and fish oil used in the manu- 
facture of soap, paints, and various other articles. The catch of this 
11175—22 2 



6 THE FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 

fish exceeds that of any other species taken in United States waters, 
amounting to as much as 900,000,000 pounds annually. 

Other important fisheries are those for ciscoes or lake herring in the 
Great Lakes region, annual yield exceeding 50,000,000 pounds; ale- 
wives, or river herring, along the Atlantic seaboard, yield about 45,- 
000,000 pounds; squeteagues, occurring along the Atlantic seaboard, 
annual catch in excess of 40,000,000 pounds; shrimp, taken in the South 
Atlantic and Gulf States, California, and Alaska, yield approximately 
44,000,000 pounds; mullet, taken chiefly in the South Atlantic and 
Gulf States, yield in excess of 40,000,000 pounds; crabs, taken princi- 
pally in the Middle Atlantic States section, yield exceeding 30,000,000 
pounds; and shad, native to the Atlantic coast and transplanted to the 
Pacific coast, yield about 27,000,000 pounds. 

METHODS OF PRESERVATION. 

The perishable character of fish, the difficulties in marketing them 
alive, the remoteness of production from points of consumption, and 
the seasonal character of the catch are factors which have contributed 
to the development of excellent methods of preservation by drying, 
salting, smoking, canning, and refrigeration, and endless variations to 
these fundamental methods. The ability effectively to preserve the 
catch has been of the greatest importance in the upbuilding of the fish- 
ing industry in the United States. 

FRESH FISH. 

The long distances between points of production and consumption 
in the United States require that fresh fish receive some measure of 
preservation. This is provided for by packing the fish in wooden con- 
tainers (boxes or barrels of various sizes) packed in alternate layers of 
ice. In addition, use is made of refrigeration cars. In this way large 
quantities of fresh fish are shipped thousands of miles from points of 
capture. 

DRYING. 

Drying in the open air, the oldest form of fish curing, is but little used 
in the United States, climatic conditions generally being unfavorable to 
this method of preservation. Increasing interest is being shown in the 
possibilities of preparing dehydrated or desiccated products by machinery. 
These, however, have not reached the point of large commercial pro- 
duction. 

SALTING FISH. 

The practice of preserving fish by means of salt is also of great antiquity 
and represents one of the simplest and cheapest methods in use. The 
basic methods of application are two — packing the fish in dry salt, and 
in salt brine (pickle). The so-called dried cod, hake, haddock, pollock, 
cusk, and the like, which enter so largely into trade, domestic and foreign, 



THE FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES. J 

are in reality dry salted products which are afterwards dried in the open 
air on flakes or in specially constructed driers. Such products are 
especially well adapted for marketing under adverse climatic conditions 
and therefore widely distributed in the world's markets. 

Preservation in salt brine is commonly employed with such fishes as 
mackerel, herring, salmon, ciscoes, and mullet. This is also an effective 
means of preserving fish temporarily which are to be used for smoking 
and the like. The degree of preservation sought for and the variations 
in processes are numerous. In the case of Scotch-cured herring the fish 
are allowed to cure in their own blood pickle which imparts to the product 
a distinct flavor. In the mild curing of such fish as salmon, caught in 
temperate climates, preservation is only partially effected by the rela- 
tively weak brine, the fish being held in cold storage. Neither of these 
processes are well adapted to warm climates. 

SMOKING. 

Smoked fishery products may be classed among the most delectable of 
foods, but because of the fact that the product will not keep for long 
periods in the open, the industry is quite localized in character. For 
smoking, oily fish, such as herring, salmon, ciscoes, sturgeon, and white- 
fish, are preferred. Of the less oily fish used for smoking, the haddock 
is the most important. To supply the smoke flavor with permanent 
preservation, large quantities of fish are now preserved by canning after 
being lightly smoked. 

CANNING. 

This important means of preservation is extensively employed in the 
United States, particularly for salmon, sardines, tunas, shrimp, oysters, 
clams, and crabs. In 192 1, the value of canned products produced 
exceeded $46,000,000. 

REFRIGERATION. 

Freezing is important as conserving fish in times of abundance and 
cheapness for use in a fresh state in times of scarcity. This method of 
preservation is employed on a large scale in the United States, from 
about 80,000,000 to 90,000,000 pounds being frozen per annum. In the 
past it has been customary to freeze fishery products in air. At the 
present time much interest is revealed in the possibilities of freezing in 
brine. 

BY-PRODUCTS AND MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTS. 

In the United States extensive use is made of unmarketable fish and 
the waste, in preparing fishery products for market. These yield large 
quantities of fish scrap which is used as an ingredient for fertilizers; fish 
meal used as a stock feed ; fish oil used for making soap and paints, for cur- 
rying leather, and for medicinal and lubricating purposes; fish glue; etc. 
The hides of sharks and other aquatic animals are used for tanning into ex- 



8 THE FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 

cellent leathers ; the scales of certain fishes are employed in the preparation 
of pearl essence for the manufacture of artificial pearls; oyster shells are 
ground and used for poultry feeds, liming soil, road-building, etc. ; the 
fresh- water pearl mussel shells are the basis of the highly important pearl 
button industry ; shark fins are dried for the oriental trade ; and various 
other resources of the fisheries are employed for use in the arts and indus- 
tries. The value of the by-products in 192 1 exceeded $8,000,000, and of 
miscellaneous products was approximately equal. 

U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 

The United States Congress passed a joint resolution approved Feb- 
ruary 9, 1 87 1, providing for the appointment of a Commissioner of Fish 
and Fisheries, who was directed to conduct investigations concerning the 
facts and the causes of the alleged diminution in value and importance 
of the fisheries and the feasibility of remedial measures. This represents 
the beginning of one of the earliest and most effective conservation move- 
ments undertaken by the Federal Government. Prior to July 1, 1903, 
the establishment was independent, reporting directly to Congress, and 
was known as the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries, but, 
on the organization of the Department of Commerce, it was included by 
law in the new department and the name was changed to its present 
designation, the United States Bureau of Fisheries. 

The original conception of the bureau was a body for scientific, sta- 
tistical, and practical investigation of the fisheries, and these phases of its 
work always have been prominent. By an act approved June 10, 1872, 
authority was given for the propagation of food fishes, a branch of the 
service which has grown until it constitutes a large part of the bureau's 
activities. Without administrative or executive control, except in the 
administration of the laws regarding Alaska fish and certain fur-bearing 
animals, and the sponge fisheries on the high seas off the coast of Florida, 
the bureau, acting in an advisory capacity has been able to exert a pow- 
erful influence on the fisheries legislation of the States. 

There is in charge of. the bureau's work the Commissioner of Fish and 
Fisheries and the deputy commissioner, the work of the bureau being 
organized into divisions, each with an assistant in charge, as follows: 

Division of Administration. — This division exercises supervision of the 
accounting office, office of the architect and* engineer, the vessels of the 
bureau, the library, records, correspondence, and property. It is re- 
sponsible for the purchase, maintenance, and repair of all vessels and 
boats, and for accounting relative to appropriations and property. 

Division of Fishery Industries. — The important functions of this divi- 
sion in its relations with the commercial fisheries include the following: 
(1) Studies of the methods of conducting fishing operations for the 
purpose of effecting improvements and revealing the use of 
destructive or unprofitable methods; 



THE FISHERY INDUSTRIES OP THE UNITED STATES. 9 

{2) Development of improvements in the methods of handling, dis- 
tribution and marketing of fishery products ; 

(3) The conduct of technological investigations of the underlying 

scientific principles governing the preservation of fishery 
products in order to standardize methods and effect improve- 
ments and economy of- operation; to develop new methods, 
to discourage the use of unsatisfactory, wasteful or uneco- 
nomical practices; to improve methods of preserving gear 
and the like; 

(4) To introduce useful foreign methods or processes of capture, 

preservation, and utilization of fishery products; 

(5) To collect statistics of the fisheries and fishery industries; 

(6) To increase the use of the by-products of the fisheries and the 

unutilized products of the sea; 

(7) To increase the demand for the little-used or neglected fishes 

and fishery products for food ; 

(8) To study and develop fishing grounds and fisheries for hitherto 

unutilized fishes. 

This division has in Washington, D. C, an excellently equipped fishery 
products laboratory for the conduct of its technological investigations. 

Division of Fish Culture. — This division has charge of all operations 
connected with the artificial propagation, distribution, and rescue of 
fishes. Its practical work in 192 1 was conducted through 35 fish-cul- 
tural stations and 65 field or substations, and 5 distribution railway cars, 
with an aggregate output of approximately 5,000,000,000 fish and eggs. 
Approximately 93 per cent of this output consisted, as heretofore, of the 
salmon, shad, whitefish, pike perches, yellow perch,- lake trout, cod, 
pollock, and winter flounder, which constitute the more important 
commercial species. 

Division of Inquiry Respecting Food Fishes. — -This division deals with 
the biological, biochemical, and conservational problems of the fisheries 
needful for the judicious exploitation and the means and conditions of 
maintenance or possible increase of supplies. 

These investigations and experiments are conducted in the laboratory 
in Washington, D. C, at two marine biological stations on the Atlantic 
coast, one on the Gulf coast, and one fresh- water Station in the Missis- 
sippi Valley, and through field parties. There are also one especially 
equipped steamer for deep-sea investigations, one for coastal work, and 
a number of smaller craft for inshore and river duty. An important 
feature of the work is furnishing advice and facts relative to fisheries 
legislation and administration. This division also conducts investiga- 
tions and experiments tending directly to the increase of economic aquatic 
animals, such as sponges, oysters, mussels, and terrapin. 

Alaska Fisheries and Fur-Seal Service. — This service, which is under the 
immediate charge of the Commissioner of Fisheries, consists of two 



IO THE FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 

important subdivisions, namely, the fur-seal service and the salmon 
service. The fur-seal service has to do with all matters pertaining to 
the administration and maintenance of the fur-seal fishery of Alaska and 
to the control of the Pribilof Islands, including the taking and marketing 
of the sealskins, an important source of revenue to the Federal Govern- 
ment. The fisheries service is charged with the enforcement of the laws 
and the regulations relating to the salmon and other fisheries of Alaska, 
and with the inspection of fisheries, canneries, salteries, hatcheries, and 
other similar establishments. 

The work of the bureau, particularly in the field of fish culture, is 
supplemented by the various State fish and game commissions. 

FISHERY COLLEGES. 

Provision is made at two universities in the United States, namely the 
University of Washington, Seattle, Wash., and Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology, Cambridge, Mass., for the training of students to enter the 
fisheries, including the commercial, fish-cultural, and biological fields. 
Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y., provides a course in fish culture in 
connection with its college of agriculture. 

AMERICAN MARKETS. 

The foregoing pages have revealed something of the extent of the 
fishing industry of the United States. To maintain this industry the 
United States is amply supplied with manufacturers of cordage, twine, 
canning machinery and supplies, shipyards, cold-storage and ice equip- 
ment, sportsmen's supplies, and other requirements of the fisheries. In 
addition, the production of the fishery products is of sufficient magnitude 
to enable it to engage in a large fishery export trade. 

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